Outcast (I) (2014) User Reviews

So so story, camera is disaster

[tuongvinhtp · 6/10 · 13 October 2014]

This film attracted me with the role of Nicolas Cage, however, he is not the main character and his role in the film is not quite interesting. This film is simply a Chinese movie with some new winds from western crusaders. However, it is meaningless, the makers tried to attract us with this image but they failed to connect the stories, so it becomes boring. I felt like being cheated.

The royal prince was practicing the arrows, but the result is just one hit shot, that's all. The storyline is half done.

Most important thing, the camera is terrible. If you want to watch fierce sword fights, then you will be seriously disappointed because the camera is so narrow like the you are the fighter in the movie, BUT it is shaken strongly so after a few minutes impressive, you will feel terrible.

Why don't they film it with wider view so we can enjoy the whole fighting and landscapes...? I hope they return my ticket money.

Anyways, the characters are good, I can not give them bad rating.

Finally, sorry for my bad English.

Exceeds Expectations

[ericzillazillo · 6/10 · 18 January 2015]

I went into this expecting crap, and I guess there are lots of weird things in the film.

For example, it bypasses the language barrier by giving everyone involved the universal translator, and the Chinese characters speak English in distinctly British accents, wtf.

Also, it combines elements of both the Crusades and Chinese Imperial stuff into a single film, which was interesting.

Hayden Christensen punches a woman in the face. I found that funny, considering the nobody made a fit about "violence against women omagazz". Then again, the film does depict lots of women and some children being slaughtered, it probably would've gotten a pg13 for that if the censors got their hands onto it.

The dialog is somewhat cliché, then you also have the white savior cliché in which Nick Cage and Hayden Christensen kick Chinese ass to save Chinese people from other Chinese people, but I'm cool with that. But honestly, the film does in fact fulfill its duty to entertain. There are lots of sword fights, some cool (although anticlimactic) arrow scenes, and a nice supply of blood, but not in a particularly gory way.

The story is somewhat nonsensical, I guess the only defense to that is 'who cares'.

Over all though, it still was kinda FUN, nothing really made me cringe, and the Chinese theme in a non Chinese film is somewhat refreshing. So my final verdict is: 6/10 fun but not particularly memorable.

This is not a great movie, but it's not near as bad as some of the reviews

[danjeffers · 5/10 · 11 November 2015]

I have watched a LOT of really bad movies, and this isn't anywhere near the bottom of the barrel. In fact, it's kind of enjoyable. The bad guy is sufficiently bad that we he drives the story and justifies our anger. He has just enough complexity that he escapes being one- dimensional. Hayden Christensen is acceptable as basically the fallen hero, and Nicholas Cage is, well, a little off the wall.

Some people complain about the action, and the first sequence is not that great. But the later action scenes are decent, and the last sword- fight is pretty good.

Some of the story is sort of sketched in instead of really told in depth, but it's not inconsistent or riddled with plot holes. What story there is moves along at a good pace.

A rather Classic tale....Good overall....Don't understand the hate.

[Dr_Sagan · 2 January 2015]

This movie has some really bad reviews here in IMDb, I guess because of Nicolas Cage, a praised actor in the past, who, because of his recent choices, has become a target of hate. (You can easily identify these reviews of personal hate, when you read comments like "The worst movie ever made" etc.)

First of all the star in this is Hayden Christensen (not Cage), who does a good job overall. Cage has a minor role, not as significant as you might think at first. To tell you the truth they could have assign his part to another actor or scrap the character off the story all together. Cage's acting is sub-par but he gives a "dying" performance (pun intended!) in the end.

This is a rather classic tale. It resembles the plot of many westerns: The master warrior who tries to escape his previous cruel life, drinks to forget, he hits rock bottom... until someday unexpectedly he finds a noble cause to serve and redeem himself.

The direction is very stylish. Some people might don't like it but I personally did. The movie was filmed in China and you get a few nice landscape along the way.

There are some really dramatic scenes in the film. In my opinion are well filmed and effective. Certainly not laughable as in some other movies with similar plot. First time director Nicholas Powell does a good job.

An interesting fact: Despite the bad reviews a SEQUEL is on the works. I don't mind watching it when it's out. The ending, although clear, leaves something to be desired.

Overall: Ignore the hate and watch it if you have the chance.

May the East be with you

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 7 July 2015]

Nic Cage to some has lost it. He's not the main attraction here though. Hayden is (hence my summary line) and he is either barely succeeding in that brooding act he's putting on (going through a hard time trying to redeem himself, not entirely of his own free will mind you). Following orders is not always the best way to go.

The story is pretty straight forward, the action scenes are decent, but the cutting/editing of them is very frenzy. You might like that (it creates the illusion of fast and hard hits or blows to the body) or not, depending on your taste. Overall this is not the worst of Nic Cages recent outputs, but it's not an instant classic either

Simply awful in every way

[jens-188-727259 · 1/10 · 17 December 2014]

What ever happened to Cage? Has he run out of resources and feels the need to jump on every bad script out there? Not only this, he is actually gives the worst performance of the lot in this movie. The story itself is corny, limping and just bad over all but Cage is even worse.

Don't waste your time nor money on a movie like this, it's not worth it. It was in fact so bad i decided to create an account here only to rate it as 1 and hopefully someone will be lucky enough to avoid it.

I guess if you would have skipped the crusaders and left out the two big names from Hollywood it could have been a movie for a rainy Sunday but as it stands now - just avoid it and watch something else.

Avoid at all cost

[markferriby · 1/10 · 18 December 2014]

What has happened to Nicolas Cage? His last few films have become a torment to watch, Outcast included.

The film starts with some very bad English accents and this is the only thing that is worse than the story line and the acting.

Has Hollywood given up on Cage? have we seen the golden boy of Hollywood last stand, if so, which film was his last great effort?

Don't get me wrong, I am huge Cage fan, but these films look like he's paying off a gambling debt and has no choice to make them. I know in Hollywood, actors make some iffy films to make the projects they care about come to life, but how many iffy films does cage need to make to get his dream project off the ground, I fear he's made one too many.

Straightforward, Nothing New, but Entertaining

[DareDevilKid · 7/10 · 18 January 2015]

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)

Rating: 3/5 stars

Say what you want about Nic Cage, but the man delivers at least one entertaining film a year – either in the action or thriller genre. Sure most of these erstwhile efforts Cage has been associated with fall squarely in the B-movie category, but what simple, straightforward entertainers they've been – way better than some bloated, glitzy, A-level blockbusters.

This time he isn't the leading hero, but has a strong supporting part with his character bringing an important element to the crux of the plot. Hayden Christensen is the main protagonist of "Outcast" and he plays the stoical, taciturn, gritty, lost, down-and-out, wandering badass with measured assurance. The role actually suits him – considering his lack of acting skills and emoting capabilities – and is one of his very few, decent performances.

Stunt coordinator turned debutante Director,Nick Powell, knows a thing or two about action, which is evident from the fluidity with which the hand-to-hand combats, sword fights, chase sequences, and battles scenes are shot. Story wise, "Outcast" certainly brings nothing fresh to the table: When the heir of the Chinese imperial throne becomes the target of assassination by his despised older brother, the young prince's only hope is the protection of his sister, and the reluctant aid of a war-weary Crusader, Jacob (Christensen) who must overcome his own personal demons and rally the assistance of the legendary Crusader-turned-bandit, Gallain (Cage) to return the prince to his rightful place on the throne. But it's that one entertaining, annual Nic Cage vehicle we've become accustomed to. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy a good, simple, popcorn action movie.

outcast

[hamsterboom · 1/10 · 18 December 2014]

when i saw it had Nicholas cage and Hayden Christensen i was interested in the film but after about 5 minutes into the film with them pulling off such bad accents and sounding so wrong i soon regretted the film.

The script itself, it shines hardly any light on any of the characters and doesn't not give them any actual background history.

the fight scenes are horrible though, it seems that giving anyone any skill in a film is lacked in this, people swinging around their swords even though are are in positions that they should be better. i mean as there is no art behind their weapons, which from the east is wrong as films dated from those times show people with great skill and there were none in this film

Hayden Christensen - from being in star wars and working so closely with swordplay moves (( from using a light sabre )) he has shown no skill in using a sword in this film at all ... he is a playing a drunk dumb soldier with no real plot to stand on for being the way he is.

Nicholas Cage - from being revered to being feared, once when he was cast in a film it would of been a must see but come of late he has been horrible in acting, and in choosing the right roles for himself. - his acting in this was as he had never acted before and his accent was terrible as it just seemed to have sounded wrong.

this film was a huge disappointment and it was a huge waste of time.

Not bad

[mikecommo-48728 · 6/10 · 21 March 2022]

I honestly think this movies isn't that bad. Hayden's acting is getting better in my opinion, however it's just the accent he used that is bad. Nicholas Cage on the other hand is horrible, both his acting and accent is garbage.

Damn you Nick Powell and damn you James Dormer. Why? Seriously...why did you make this? Who is it for? Honestly...

[angiris · 3/10 · 23 December 2014]

What in the hell is this garbage!

Nic Cage...for the love of god man! Seriously! ...know what...its not your fault...no... Im a huge fan...and Ill remain one forever. But for the love of god... James Dormer!!! What was going through your mind as you wrote this poor, boring, mind blowingly (and numbingly) DULL and dreadful script!

How they even got the funding to do this film is like beyond me. Uwe Boll films are BETTER then this. For crying out loud.

There is zero character progression. There is no worthwhile story. Everything happens for no particular reason. Some single event that transpired in the middle east caused Hayden and Nick to travel to China.....done.... nice..... *facepalm* And from there they end up being involved in some Chinese royalist jibber jabber blah blah thats been seen 5000 times by now. The action is lackluster... no typical Chinese cinema special effects or such which could have added substantially to the film. The film feels insanely rushed....yet at the same time you end up sitting there... waiting for it to be over so its actually also painfully long. Whether that makes any sense to you my dear reader is up to you. Im not watching this ever again. There are some really weird and corny...uncomfortably corny camera set- ups. Stuff that will make you think....ehm....okay....which is a small detail but enough to make an already bad film worse.

It couldn't get more painfully boring if they tried. There is nothing Chinese as such over this film too. Everybody speaks English. This is the worst accent I've ever heard Nic Cage make in my life and it pains me to say this cause' I love the guy. He's awesome...but god damn it... this is dreadful.

Imagine Nic Cage role playing with a bunch of dudes in the forest...making medieval'ish accents... Lad...and blah blah...yea...thats the film. I cannot believe the director allowed it. With that said...the director is NOT EVEN A DIRECTOR. he's an assistant director who's never made a film before. WHy Hayden!? Why Cage?! Why anyone in this film...why are you taking part in a disaster like this?! This was doomed before it even began.

my god...this year and video games....this year and films... this is horrific. As if "Left Behind" wasn't bad enough.

*sigh*

I kept asking myself through the film. Who is this made for? because it sure as hell isn't the Nic Cage fan boys...its not the guys loving action. its NOT a Chinese audience... its basically not any audience this film might ...could....appeal to. So who then? Is it to advance the career of the actors? because this film will most certainly NOT accomplish that. Is it a directorial debut? Evidently yes... Congratulations Nick Powell...you messed yours up BADLY!

My god... Why why why why why! Why is it so incomprehensibly difficult to just make a good film. Why Hayden...from Star Wars signed up for this is anyones guess... Nic Cage...FIRE YOUR AGENT! Like RIGHT NOW! if you love your fans... fire that "agent" of yours and start making films like Tokarev...like Bad lieutenant... like Kick Ass... like The Frozen Ground. Cool and great stuff. Stuff that shows you for what you are. A damn good actor!

Stop participating in this garbage! PLEASE! For the sake of your fans! For our health... stop it!

This film hasn't got anything to offer anyone. You wont learn anything you don't already know. You will not take anything away from it. based on that this has absolutely no reason to even exist.

Its just.....more.....I guess. More junk.

Go watch the Last Samurai or Season of the Witch instead. Seriously. If you disliked 47 Ronin with keanu Reeves...you'll absolutely despise this. Reason Im comparing the two is because once again we see Westerners going to the east...go kick ass....in typical Hollywood manner... no interesting story...just pure boring and utterly unrealistic action. Its just about as trivial as it could possibly get.

Regardless my dear reader. Consider yourself warned.

I cannot recommend this to anyone. If you are a Cage fan...STAY far away.

I repeat. Go watch Season of the Witch or The last Samurai instead of this. If you watch this film anyway...use a free film site...do yourself that favor because paying for this will make you regret it.

For the love of god... *facepalm* NIC!!! PLEASE!! GET IT TOGETHER MAN!!!

Why the negative

[jwbsoft · 8/10 · 27 February 2015]

This movie doesn't score great. I've read most reviews and I don't agree. Things about not being correct, so what.

This is a good action movie with, and that's a plus, a nice story. It's not a documentary, it's not a "based on true facts", it's a story to entertain you.

Just enjoy it, as I did.

And by the way, I watched it three times now. I don't choose a movie just because it's near to any truth, or believable. I want to be entertained.

I just wonder. Would any of the critics here criticize a book in the same way, or some piece of music?

Great 8/10 movie until Nic Cage shows up

[azazell86 · 7/10 · 22 December 2014]

I liked Outcast in the first hour or so - sure the acting is somewhat wooden, alternating beautiful scenes and a soundstage, with also some inconsistencies in the story, but great fight scenes and a very impressive performance by Hayden Christiansen as the jaded warrior made the film really tense and enjoyable...until Nic Cage shows up in a mop wig, handling 2 live snakes and the worst accent since Leo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond. I like Nic Cage's overacting in most films but in Outcast it simply took me out of movie immersion which is sad considering this movie really had the chance to be a diamond in the rough (Blood Diamond pun intended).

Overall if they could of given the role to another actor or even tone down Nic Cages....caginess (?!) this would of been a solid 8/10.

Shot entirely by drunken cameraman who's also on withdrawal from opium

[quincytheodore · 2/10 · 3 January 2015]

With poor acting, awkward usage of eastern culture and forced plot, Outcast is already mediocre enough, but one thing that truly sinks it is the camera work. The points of view are always hindered by random objects, tilted in strange diagonal position, excessively close-up, annoying shaky, and sometimes the combination of all. That's for simple scene like a conversation, for combat sequences, Outcast is nearly incomprehensible.

The story moves around two soldiers of Crusade, played by Hayden Christensen and Nicholas Cage, who come to China for redemption. They are inevitably involved in the political struggle when the royal heir is hunted by usurpers. The plot is common for Chinese movie, and probably would've been better if the movie turned full kungfu flick as this bland westernization version only makes everything worse. It doesn't move in consistent pace nor does it create satisfying conclusion.

Hayden Christensen as the main antagonist is uninspiring. After Star Wars it's probably better not to give him moody character who inexplicably has another princess as love interest. He delivers lines in flat overused tone and just looks very detached. However, he's still better than Nicholas Cage who, by the gods, is simply drunk, grumpy and has terrible unknown accent. It's just painful to watch, at least Christensen can seem believable enough, Cage is just him in bad wig, struggling to make something resembling acting.

It's such a shame because the script has a few good dialogues. Liu Fiyei as Lian, the princess and Andy On as Shing, the antagonist, play their roles quite well and deliver some decent scenes. Andy On was great in Once Upon a Time In Shanghai, he's really underutilized here. Furthermore, the movie is shot entirely on English which really diminishes immersion. Whenever the movie looks like it's about to pick up, the cinematography ruins it. Everything is wobbly, out of focus and edited in choppy manner. There's no merit on having these overly complicated shots for trivial scenes and it certainly ruin any tension on fight scenes.

Outcast is awful by western and eastern standard.

Waste of time about crusaders in China

[stprssll · 3/10 · 17 December 2014]

Wooden acting, predictable plot and poor cinematography. American imports with bad accents in a Canadian production with Chinese money. Guilt ridden ex crusaders in China save Prince.

I think the entire movie is summed up by the final scene were the camera pans up to sky. The entire crew must have breathed a collective sigh of relief that the nightmare was over.

Clearly made for a DVD release I doubt this one will ever even make it to TV, it's that bad. I agree with previous reviewers that the fight scenes are not badly done, camera angles and tight shots tend to spoil it, its not meant to be an art film. There are too many examples of hero versus 20 guys that wait their turn, surely this fell out of favor as a fight choreography 25 years ago.

Don't waste your time or money.

Another stupid idea by the Hollywood writer or maybe producers

[gurubesar · 1/10 · 21 December 2014]

There have been times, many times that Hollywood has proved itself that making a Chinese movie is not one of their strong point. To begin with, the story has to be a believable one. The Templar war was during 12th to 13th century (if I am not mistaken). That was during the Mongol time and there was no power struggle in China because they simply have been annihilated by the Mongol power. That's the first mistake.

Second mistake is the equipment. Chinese army or warriors never use a broadsword. They used slim sword and sabre. The king's guards uniform is very similar to that of the Templar. Should do more study about the army/soldier uniform. There are a lot of information about this on the internet. The garments used by the people represent more of the western culture during that time (maybe ???).

Of course this kind of Rambo style movie is one of Hollywood's speciality. One man against the whole battalion of army and still the one man army won the battle. And of course the heroism of the western style. The story writer just didn't have a clue of how the culture in China at that time. A prince and princess on the run will not sacrifice their well being to save a peasant whom they do not even know.

To complete the screw-up, they put some Indian style medicine man to help the hero. Where and who did they learn about the culture from ? There are too many western faces on the Eastern story movie ? How's that for gross ignorant ? My advise would be the Hollywood producers should realize that they just financing high cost movie (because of Nicolas Cage) on something they don't really understand is stupid.

If you want to waste your time, please continue to watch this move. I gave 1 point because that is the lowest possible point. It should have been BIG ZERO.

Dull movie

[job_mrj · 1/10 · 25 December 2014]

First of all I am a big fan of Nicolas Cage. In order to watch his movies, I registered myself here in IMDb to write a review of his films.

I've almost seen all of his movies but the movie OUTCAST (2014) was perhaps the worst movie I've ever seen. The movie for me was a dull or poor one. I really wondered what happened to him why he was doing such kind of movie. For me, he is not just a good actor but a superb one. However, while I was watching this movie I was really disappointed because it is not worth paying for or watching it.

Thank you and Merry Christmas everyone!

Emjoyed it

[keneo_morley · 7/10 · 1 January 2015]

It was a pretty decent film. Mr Cage played a decent role in it and his death a long with his wife was poetic. Didn't care much about the little brat prince, but the rest of the film was decent. i enjoyed it since i had time to kill and it was watchable to say the least. I thought the princess was dead for sure and she is a trooper. decent film with the Western and Asian music playing in the background. reminded me of the old karate movies. See this if you have the time to spare. its decent enough to keep you intrigues but not nothing to go crazy over. Check the movie out, see how a son get betrayed by his father and the father gets betrayed by the son. should have hugged him more.

Was a poorly done movie

[Filipovic-96 · 4/10 · 17 December 2014]

This movie had a reasonably good plot terrible that the characters representing I assume China had American accents and the director obviously was an amateur as you see at the start before you even get into the movie he builds up a character as a family man who is just trying to defend his family then is killed by the main character also opens to a scene when you have no clue what's going on also cages accent is appalling at least, basically you could of had a good movie on your hands with a few basic changes 1 being the director 2 the awful accents in the movie perhaps had the easterns speaking there language 3 the name is awful and doesn't draw an audience in to a medieval style movie "outcast" and last you could of marketed better especially with the awful trailer you should of changed that as it makes it look like a c class movie with superstars like Hayden Christensen and cage

Not too bad

[xxvgqf · 7/10 · 6 February 2022]

It is true, this film is definitely not Nick Cage's best performance. But, it is not as bad as the critics say it is. I enjoyed the movie. Hayden did a good job at playing his role and the supporting cast was also pretty good.

Outcast: Unfortunately, despite some very good elements, the result is poor.

[niutta-enrico · 5/10 · 28 December 2014]

This isn't a great film and I think that the low IMDb rating (4,6) is correct. I'm afraid that the explanation lies in the clichéd dialogues and in the naive action scenes (who could find convincing a man who regularly defeats dozens of enemies as if they just didn't exist?) which seemed outdated for the present times.

But this bad outcome is, under many respects, a pity, because the film has a very good cast, great stunting, beautiful scenery, excellent images, a modern editing and its storyline, although not even remotely original, is a honest classical plot for an adventure movie.

Nick Powell is a top stunt coordinator (and that's why the stunting is so good), here at his first experience as a director. I don't know how great his ambitions are but he didn't seem far from making a film that could be much more appreciated by people like me.

Surprisingly Good!

[johnathindozer · 8/10 · 30 December 2014]

It's a good thing that I chose to disregard the other critics and view this one anyway...it turned out to be pretty good. Sure, Nick Cage isn't on screen very much, but it's still a good story; it has some great cinematography, is well-acted and has good production values. It starts out during the Crusades, but doesn't stay there very long...it moves to the far east, and the characters from the beginning come into play later on. The fight scenes are directed kind of shaky(like Gladiator), but are still well-choreographed. I was expecting some kind of low-budget B movie with bad-acting, but I was actually pretty impressed with this one.

I want my money back!

[manious702 · 18 December 2014]

I want my money back!

No proper connection between the first 10 minutes war of the crusaders and the Chinese war! The crusaders war was intended to fight the Muslim from capturing Jerusalem the holy city!

They are not connected at all! Why someone becomes all of sudden Robin hood and fights a war that it is not his?

How and when the crusaders learned Chinese???????

Nickolas Cage he didn't lead this story, he could have done better job than this!

It could have been better!

Nice story

[Photoluck · 6/10 · 27 December 2014]

A story well worth of watching it, the movie was quite attractive to watch. Apparently the negative viewers had some issues with Nicholas Cage... Also reading comments that the soldiers are missing sword handling, this is the 12th century and actually the most crusaders didn't know how to handle a sword very well... The acting may wasn't the best out there, but to story itself was nice, the setting was wonderful, liked a lot the scenes and the shots of the nature and the 12th century time setting. The movie had easier could go greater, deeper, there is enough out there to tell. Wish they told more and the only thing that disrupted me is that every foreigner spoke English, on these that Chinese should speak Mandarin and would love to see the English struggling with it... now it isn't.

Nic needs a new agent......

[FlashCallahan · 3/10 · 23 December 2014]

Trying to be an epic movie in the vein of Alexander, Gladiator, and Troy, this film comes across more like 47 Ronin and Elektra.

Outcast is a suitable name for this movie.

The film starts with Anakin and Cage (who has the greatest accent of all time in this) fighting in the Crusades, with Nic looking on at Anakin in disgust as he kills lots of people.

They part company.

A few years later, the writers have stolen a sub plot from Gladiator, and when one son learns that the other will be crowned king, he kills his dad, and then goes after his brother.

Anakin is the Outcast of the film, and he becomes their protector as they travel aimlessly across a few fields.

But Anakin gets injured, and only Nicolas Cage with his snake bracelets can save him. Trouble is, he's blind in one eye and has to keep it shut to make it look like he is actually blind.

Oh method acting.....

First off, the film doesn't know what it wants to be, adventure, fantasy, or drama, and it doesn't get any of them correct. Anakin spends his time looking depressed, and just being how he was in Episode 2, and if you want to see it for Cage, he's in it for about twenty minutes in total, but what a twenty minutes.

His accent is hilarious, if you thought Don Cheadles accent was awful in the Oceans movies, just basque in this English accent, it almost makes the film worth watching.

But, its a poor effort, almost as if the makers and everyone involved just couldn't be bothered, and you'll be less bothered come the end.